Another weekend passes, like sand by way of the hourglass, and we’ve a ton of stuff to dissect following the motion in Europe’s prime 5 leagues! Where ought to we start? Ah sure, how in regards to the massive Premier League sport of the spherical as Arsenal muscled their well beyond Chelsea 2-1 to maintain their five-point lead on the prime of the desk regardless of an encounter that felt extra like wrestling than soccer. Regardless, we realized rather a lot about each groups as we hit the “10 games to go” mark in England‘s prime division.
In Germany, we arguably noticed the Bundesliga title race come to an finish as Bayern Munich thumped rivals and nearest challenges Borussia Dortmund to open a double-digit factors lead on the prime with single-digit video games remaining. That was enjoyable whereas it lasted, eh? Meanwhile in Italy, Juventus made an epic comeback towards AS Roma to maintain their top-four hopes alive in Serie A this season, which is able to really feel good following their UEFA Champions League exit in midweek.
– VAR assessment: Did Chelsea deserve a penalty in loss to Arsenal?
– Arsenal riding corners to Premier League title; Chelsea red cards continue
– Dawson: Man Utd up to third thanks to Sesko’s hot streak of crucial goals
Elsewhere, we’ve speaking factors galore round Liverpool (who now rule at set items, weirdly), Manchester United (who’re getting a tune out of Benjamin Sesko), Paris Saint-Germain (who preserve flirting with catastrophe in Ligue 1), Barcelona (Lamine Yamal‘s on the G.O.A.T. trajectory if he can proceed like this), Federico Dimarco (who deserves rather more reward than he will get contemplating what he does for Inter Milan), Manchester City (who’re successful with grit proper now, which feels bizarre) and far, rather more.
It’s Monday morning, so what higher time for some musings? Let’s get into it.
Arsenal beat Chelsea to maintain five-point hole atop Premier League, however win raises extra questions than solutions
Arsenal beat Chelsea to maintain five-point hole atop Premier League, however win raises extra questions than solutionsLike whether or not stuff like this — 41% possession at dwelling, together with 20-plus minutes towards 10 males — is sustainable. Or the place they’d be with out David Raya between the posts. Or, certainly, what would occur with out set items: they’ve already scored extra successful targets from nook kicks than any facet in Premier League historical past … and March has barely began.
I’m not blaming supervisor Mikel Arteta right here. Without Martin Odegaard (who hasn’t been nice of late, in any case) the Arsenal boss opted for a sure strategy, and bar the final 20 minutes — once they didn’t kill the sport with the additional man, after Pedro Neto‘s foolish sending off — it labored. Arteta’s gamers do what the referee permits them to do on the pitch. I’m simply not notably entertained by it (common readers are properly conscious), and I’d moderately see Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice do the stuff they’re paid some huge cash to do moderately than win free kicks and hit lifeless balls.
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Are Chelsea in severe monetary hassle?
ESPN’s Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens react to Chelsea’s damaging UEFA European Club Landscape report.
The drawback with turning each set piece right into a Royal Rumble — and by the way in which, it isn’t simply Arsenal — is that you simply’re on the mercy of the match officers. Another ref and one other VAR on one other day, and Rice is getting punished for the ball coming off his arm and/or committing a foul for his bear hug on Jorrel Hato. (Instead, PGMOL gave him a go on the handball since he was “involved in physical contact” with a Chelsea participant — by no means thoughts the truth that the “physical contact” wasn’t a cuddle, however a foul.)
The identical additionally applies for William Saliba on João Pedro, which may simply have been a penalty. You’re banking on referees calling issues persistently and that is dangerous: simply ask new Tottenham Hotspur boss Igor Tudor (extra on that later).
Raya additionally made some enormous saves towards a Chelsea facet who, regardless of not being notably good, had the higher hand when it got here to open play. (Unlucky for them that it wasn’t an enormous a part of this sport.) That needs to be a warning. We know Arsenal can outplay opponents too and if they do not need the run-in to be a nervy, anxiety-inducing mess with the best of margins, they should get again to doing that.
As for Chelsea, we noticed the standard points. If shoehorning the additional central midfielder (Andrey Santos, who appears to be untouchable in Liam Rosenior’s eyes) means shifting Cole Palmer extensive, I’m undecided the juice is well worth the squeeze. Hato for Marc Cucurella (who was unavailable) is a hefty downgrade towards a bodily facet equivalent to Arsenal. And then there’s the disciplinary problem. Every sending off is its personal story so you have to enable for that, however seven purple playing cards within the league — when the highest 5 have simply three mixed — is way, far too many.
Bayern win Klassiker, league feels within the bag, however loads of room to develop
Bayern win Klassiker, league feels within the bag, however loads of room to developThe headline is that it is just about “game over” for the Bundesliga title. Joshua Kimmich — who generally will get extra criticism than he deserves — struck inside 4 minutes of Daniel Svensson‘s late equalizer, making it 3-2 Bayern and creating a press release for the 80,000-strong crowd in Dortmund. The win places the hole at 11 with 10 video games to go, which makes me prepared to use the outdated rule thumb: “When the points lead is greater than the number of remaining games, you ain’t turning it around.”
The factor is, even when the sport had remained 2-2, the race was most likely over, on condition that making up eight factors with lower than a 3rd of the marketing campaign left and no extra head-to-heads would have been a Herculean feat for anybody, not to mention this star-crossed Borussia Dortmund group. But Bayern needed to verify and correctly shut the door. That’s the Bayern manner. It’s additionally not insignificant given their latest outings, and it might have happy Vincent Kompany.
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Have Bayern Munich formally ended Dortmund’s Bundesliga title hopes?
The ESPN ‘FC TV’ crew react to Bayern Munich’s 3-2 victory over Borussia Dortmund within the Bundesliga.
Only every week in the past, towards Eintracht Frankfurt, they practically threw away two factors after dominating the sport. Against Hamburg SV a month in the past, they did simply that. Kompany’s facet is simply so man-for-man dominant domestically that the most important hazard usually comes when it finally ends up hurting itself, both by way of complacency or distraction. Or, as occurred to a point towards Dortmund, by letting the sport get away from the group and turning it right into a sloppy, end-to-end affair.
That should not have occurred as a result of, lest we neglect, Dortmund have been coming off UEFA Champions League elimination midweek, whereas Bayern had seven days to organize. Not to say the truth that this was Dortmund’s eighth sport in February to Bayern’s fifth. And but, bodily, it was a wash and really a lot the form of sport that suited Nico Kovac’s crew greater than Bayern: flip it right into a sloppy mess and Bayern’s technical benefit is blunted.
It’s not clear that, proper now, Bayern can management video games in the identical manner. Not when there are defensive points, not when the midfield would not impose itself because it ought to, not once they squander probabilities on the attacking finish.
Am I nitpicking? Sure, perhaps somewhat bit. Michael Olise, Luis Díaz and Harry Kane are as fearsome a trio as you’ll be able to face within the European sport, and that is earlier than you consider one in all Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala or Lennart Karl as a fourth musketeer. Kimmich is hitting his stride once more, and for all of the stick the again line will get, when issues are clicking up the pitch, issues will get a complete lot simpler for them.
But the actual fact is that Bayern are legitimately pursuing a treble in a season by which they’re within the German Cup semifinal and the place most observers have them among the many prime three Champions League contenders (alongside Arsenal and Manchester City). And of these contenders, they now have the luxurious of not being concerned in a title race. It means extra alternatives to relaxation and rotate, extra time to organize and no must rush Musiala (or Alphonso Davies) again into beginning roles. Opportunities like this do not come up yearly. That’s the bar the membership has set.
As for Dortmund, they confirmed battle and spirit to a level that perhaps the Dortmund of outdated would not have proven. That stated, Nico Schlotterbeck opened the scoring after which gave away the silliest of penalties, consistent with the membership’s age-old narrative. Kovac’s sport plan was the proper one: They simply confronted a much better facet and he is proper when he says he was happy with his gamers and what they confirmed on the day. The problem now could be what to do with the remainder of the season, given they don’t have anything left to play for.
This time, Juventus pull off the comeback in a wild draw at Roma
This time, Juventus pull off the comeback in a wild draw at RomaThey weren’t lifeless after the horror reveals in Istanbul and at dwelling to Como. And the near-turnaround towards Galatasaray within the Champions League — nevertheless inadequate, and with far-reaching penalties — wasn’t a blip.
On Sunday evening, in a pulsating sport towards Roma, Juventus have been once more staring down the barrel. They have been 3-1 down with 12 minutes to go, with the actual prospect of discovering themselves two locations and 7 factors away from a Champions League place subsequent season (with all of the implications that carries). Somehow they discovered a manner, and with two extremely inconceivable sport changers.
Jérémie Boga — who arrived in January, having practically walked away from his earlier membership Nice in November after being attacked by supporters — pulled one again. Then, Federico Gatti, the unglamorous middle again despatched on late as a de facto middle ahead, popped up within the field for the equalizer. Narrative issues and Luciano Spalletti rightly milked it for all he may postgame, speaking about Juve’s “never-say-die” perspective and the way this may be a platform for a top-four end.
To be truthful to Spalletti, we have seen comebacks which might be merchandise of errors and luck and happenstance. This wasn’t one in all them. It was absolutely deserved, and after 120 minutes of energy-sapping (psychological and bodily) midweek soccer, away from dwelling, towards a Roma facet that know how one can be relentless. Juve paid a steep value for some goalkeeping uncertainty (Mattia Perin channelling his internal Michele Di Gregorio), pushed on with high quality and have been rewarded.
As for Roma, blowing a two-goal lead this late at dwelling goes to harm. There’s no manner it will probably’t. But they confirmed, as soon as extra, that football-wise, they will grasp with anybody and the midfield combo of Niccolo Pisilli (if Rino Gattuso would not name him up for the World Cup playoffs, he wants his head examined) and Manu Koné (his help for Donyell Malen was merely pleasant) affords a legit platform to intention excessive, each domestically and within the Europa League.
Quick hits
10. Lamine Yamal has one in all ‘these’ video games: You know, those that go away you fairly positive that he’ll be within the GOAT dialog someday. He scored a hat trick in Barcelona’s 4-1 win over Villarreal on Saturday that noticed them put the stress again on Real Madrid (who play Monday evening). But greater than the scoring, it is the motion, the benefit, the calm confidence and the method that leaves its mark.
My favourite objective? His second, which noticed him lower in from the suitable, beat one defender, beat one other defender and ship a vicious diagonal swallowed up by the goalmouth simply contained in the far submit. But hey, choose your poison.
As ever, it was a day of highs and lows for Hansi Flick’s Barça. The excessive line provides up probabilities that Joan García has to snuff out. Set-piece defending leaves rather a lot to be desired (as evidenced by Pape Gueye‘s objective), and Ferran Torres wants to complete higher if he’ll preserve taking Robert Lewandowski‘s minutes. But you’ll be able to’t argue with the outcomes, are you able to?
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Should Barcelona shield Lamine Yamal extra after latest damage scares?
ESPN’s Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate if Lamine Yamal is taking part in an excessive amount of soccer for his age.
9. Federico Dimarco’s numbers are elite and his objective is particular as Internazionale lick their wounds: Inter bounced again from their Champions League humiliation by the hands of Bodo/Glimt with a reasonably simple 2-0 win on Saturday over Genoa, who aren’t notably good. If there is a silver lining to being out of Europe this early, it is that we cannot see a rerun of final yr, once they went all the way down to the wire within the Champions Legue, Serie A and Coppa Italia solely to finish up empty-handed on each entrance.
Dimarco opened the scoring with a ridiculous strike that reminded you the way positions and roles are considerably subverted within the fashionable sport. He has six targets (all from open play) and a Serie A-leading 14 assists this season. His 20 objective involvements — excluding penalties — make him sixth general in Europe’s massive 5 leagues. Ahead of him are Kane, Erling Haaland and Olise (all with 26), Diaz (23) and Yamal 21. Kylian Mbappé is simply behind at 19. That’s fairly good firm to maintain.
8. Manchester City extra about grit than high quality at Leeds United: In the tip, if City win the title, and even simply end a robust second, it would nonetheless be a degree of pleasure. For now, nevertheless, the truth that they should depend on grit and savvy and muscle in video games like Saturday’s win at Leeds tells you that this isn’t what Pep Guardiola imagined.
City have been the epitome of sterile possession in a primary half that noticed them take pleasure in 76% of the ball, however solely take their first shot within the fortieth minute, when the xG was 1.27 to 0.00 in Leeds’ favor. Rayan Cherki‘s threaded ball discovered Rayan Aït-Nouri, who arrange Antoine Semenyo for the one objective deep in first-half damage time. (How Cherki is not a fixture on this group — he has had one league begin previously 30 days — is baffling.) They did have probabilities on the counter after the break, however there was no signal of the “control” and “creativity” which might be supposed Guardiola hallmarks. And no, Haaland’s absence is not sufficient of an alibi.
2:59
Were Man City fortunate to assert all three factors vs. Leeds?
The ‘FC TV’ crew react to Manchester City’s 1-0 victory over Leeds United at Elland Road.
7. Julián Álvarez improbably involves the rescue for Atlético Madrid: The stats are frankly terrifying. Alvarez, the FIFA World Cup winner and €85 million signing, had seen his targets dry up in essentially the most irritating manner. While you are by no means going to evaluate an all-rounder like him by targets alone, this needed to be worrying. Alvarez hadn’t scored a league objective in 4 months. In LaLiga, he hadn’t scored in open play since September, and his final away objective was on opening day. Yet it was his scrambled end that gave Atleti a 1-0 win away to cellar-dwelling Oviedo, saving Diego Simeone from having to elucidate a frankly embarrassing efficiency by which they managed a single shot on course and, once more, wanted a standout efficiency from goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
With a watch towards the Copa del Rey return leg in midweek towards Barcelona (they’re 4-0 up, however hey, you by no means know), Simeone made seven adjustments, together with all the again 4. Too a lot? On paper, no: We understand how deep his squad is. In follow, nevertheless, it’s a must to ponder whether rotation is a part of his talent set.
6. Benjamin Sesko is popping the nook for Manchester United: Believe it. He has seven targets in his previous eight video games. For the third straight match, he scored the second-half objective that obtained Manchester United the factors. On Sunday, his first begin below Michael Carrick, it was the winner of their 2-1 dwelling victory towards Crystal Palace. Sesko was at all times going to be a little bit of a sluggish burn when it comes to growth. His bodily and technical abilities are evident, however he is additionally simply 22, had at all times performed with a strike companion and located that transferring to Old Trafford within the chaos of late-stage Ruben Amorim will not be the perfect circumstances by which to develop.
You can see why Carrick has used him sparingly to this point. Deploying Sesko with Bryan Mbeumo, Matias Cunha and Bruno Fernandes makes for a top-heavy facet, particularly with Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo requested to carry down the fort in midfield. But Sesko is clearly United’s future, not least due to what they spent on him. And it isn’t going to be simple to maintain him out of the beginning lineup the way in which issues are going. United have been pretty ho-hum towards Palace, going a objective down early and turning issues round halfway by way of the second half after Maxence Lacroix‘s purple card and penalty that so incensed Oliver Glasner. (He was fallacious to query the decision, by the way in which, simply as he has been fallacious about quite a lot of issues of late.)
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Manchester United’s penalty name sparks massive debate on ESPN FC
Frank Leboeuf takes on Steve Nicol and Shaka Hislop in an enormous debate about Manchester United’s penalty and Maxence Lacroix’s purple card for Crystal Palace.
5. Napoli all about emotion, from Romelu Lukaku‘s winner to his postgame tears: Talk about pent-up emotions. Lukaku, one of many heroes of final yr’s title-winning romp, nonetheless hasn’t began a sport within the 2025-26 season (he solely made his return simply over a month in the past) and the truth that he scored the winner deep in damage time in Napoli’s 2-1 win over Hellas Verona was transferring sufficient. That he adopted it up postgame by saying he was “a dead man” earlier than arriving in Naples, and being reunited with Antonio Conte, earlier than breaking down in tears speaking about his just lately handed father, solely ratcheted issues up additional.
Moments like these remind us these footballers we watch are individuals, not AI-powered robots. And it is on the human entrance that Conte goes to succeed or fail this season, given the way in which accidents have ravaged his membership. Napoli have been poor, once more, at Verona — you’ll be able to’t preserve recognizing the opposition half a dozen regulars — however the three factors have been each enormous and deserved.
4. Liverpool put 5 previous West Ham United, however is it actually all all the way down to the set-piece coach? Or, extra precisely, the truth that he is now not there? I’ve by no means met Aaron Briggs, the set-piece coach who left Anfield simply earlier than New Year’s Eve. But the stats doing the rounds after Liverpool’s 5-2 win Saturday make for tough studying and counsel he is about as common on Merseyside as Christian Purslow and Tom Hicks.
In the primary half of the marketing campaign, Liverpool was tied for essentially the most set-piece targets conceded within the league and scored simply three. Since then, they have not given up any and scored seven. Statistical variance, pattern measurement and all that, it is nonetheless spectacular, particularly as Briggs wasn’t changed by another set-piece guru (Arne Slot’s assistants now kind issues out). Liverpool’s newfound dead-ball prowess should not obscure the truth that they have been hardly spectacular: As Alexis Mac Allister put it, they “need to improve defensively.” West Ham really received the xG battle, and this sport may have taken a really totally different flip.
2:38
Nicol: Liverpool did not look comfy vs. West Ham
ESPN’s Steve Nicol believes Liverpool did not look comfy towards West Ham regardless of successful 5-2.
3. AC Milan create lots in 2-0 win, but additionally waste lots: Don’t get too excited by the whopping 3.64 xG. When you do not really rating your first objective till the 89th minute, and when your prime scorer solely finds the web deep in damage time, you continue to have an issue. Especially when — even towards a facet like Cremonese — you continue to play at a plodding tempo and depend on counterattacks and people to create probabilities.
Rafael Leão did get his objective, and the stats let you know he is Serie A’s second-leading star. Sure, that was after he missed a hat trick of probabilities (as his private xG of two.27 reveals), and he has been criticized previously for not being medical. I nonetheless suppose he is a risk even when his ending is off, however he merely cannot be your major terminus, particularly when Christian Pulisic is having an off day. If you wish to drink the Max Allegri Kool-Aid: all the things is nice, they’ve 16 factors greater than final season at this stage and the very same variety of factors that Napoli had final yr, once they went on to win the title. (Sure, besides Napoli have been one level off the highest; Milan are 10 again.) The uncomfortable actuality is that an excessive amount of of their attacking output nonetheless hinges on 40-year-old Luka Modric, and it nonetheless would not really feel as in the event that they’re constructing towards something worthwhile.
2. Frustrated (and irritating) Paris Saint-Germain practically throw it away: “Nearly” being the operative phrase right here. Lens‘ draw at Strasbourg, coupled with PSG’s 1-0 win at Le Havre, means they stretch their lead in Ligue 1 to 4 factors, avoiding an excessive amount of blowback after their ugly efficiency towards AS Monaco within the Champions League.
The problem towards Le Havre wasn’t a lot how PSG performed — they took 22 pictures for a cumulative xG of three.82 — however the truth that their ending was so poor, from Lee Kang-in, to Nuno Mendes, to Désiré Doué, who received a considerably doubtful penalty after which had it saved. Throw in an outrageously good efficiency from Le Havre keeper Mory Diaw, and a few doubtful defending on the again, and this was far dicier than Luis Enrique would have preferred.
2:01
Will Igor Tudor save Tottenham from relegation?
ESPN’s Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens react to Tottenham’s 2-1 defeat to Fulham within the Premier League
1. More disappointment for Tottenham, and now Igor Tudor is heading towards a ban: The greatest information to have come out of Tottenham’s weekend could be that the three groups above them and the three groups under all of them misplaced, so it is “as you were” following Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at Fulham. You’re nonetheless 4 factors from the relegation zone, however now there are solely 10 video games to go and the golf equipment round you are not pulling away. There’s nothing to have a good time when it comes to efficiency, and whereas they nonetheless have a dozen or so gamers unavailable, it has been this fashion all season, and barely have they been this unhealthy. Most disappointing was that their 4-4-2 formation — wasn’t Igor Tudor meant to be “Mr. Back Three”? — seemed as if it hadn’t been practiced in any respect, which is troubling when you think about that (A) it isn’t rocket science and (B) they’d one match in 17 days previous to this one, which suggests loads of time on the coaching pitch.
Tudor, by the way, might want to get his messaging straight. It’s exhausting to see how he will not be sanctioned following his feedback in regards to the officiating, and specifically, Raúl Jiménez on Radu Dragusin forward of Fulham’s opening objective, when he accused referee Thomas Bramall of being biased towards the house facet. He’s 100% right that it was an inconsistent determination, notably in gentle of the Randal Kolo Muani on Gabriel incident within the North London Derby, however accusations of incompetence or errors are one factor, accusations of bias one other.
